Amari Welburn's father Derek Welburn leads pallbearers Jeffrey White and Clifton Smith as they carry his daughters casket from the Metropolitan Baptist Church following the 3-year-olds funeral service in Albany, NY Friday Nov. 2, 2012. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union) less

Amari Welburn's father Derek Welburn leads pallbearers Jeffrey White and Clifton Smith as they carry his daughters casket from the Metropolitan Baptist Church following the 3-year-olds funeral service in ... more

Photo: Michael P. Farrell

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Amari Welburn's father Derek Welburn leads pallbearers Jeffrey White and Clifton Smith as they carry his daughters casket from the Metropolitan Baptist Church following the 3-year-olds funeral service in Albany, NY Friday Nov. 2, 2012. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union) less

Amari Welburn's father Derek Welburn leads pallbearers Jeffrey White and Clifton Smith as they carry his daughters casket from the Metropolitan Baptist Church following the 3-year-olds funeral service in ... more

Amari Welburn's father Derek Welburn leads pallbearers Jeffrey White and Clifton Smith as they carry his daughters casket from the Metropolitan Baptist Church following the 3-year-old funeral service in Albany, NY Friday Nov. 2, 2012. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union) less

Amari Welburn's father Derek Welburn leads pallbearers Jeffrey White and Clifton Smith as they carry his daughters casket from the Metropolitan Baptist Church following the 3-year-old funeral service in Albany, ... more

ALBANY — Amari Welburn loved Dora the Explorer. She loved to draw with the color pink. Even though she was just three, she loved having her mother and grandmother fuss over her hair.

On Friday, her tiny white coffin sat at the front of Metropolitan New Testament Mission Baptist Church. Her brother DaOnte Taylor-White, 8, stood next to it with a microphone in his hand.

He remembered his sister as a joker who always was laughing. She danced and made up silly songs such as "I Like My Old Granpa." He said he would always celebrate her birthday, even if she wouldn't be there any more.

"I hope you will be good in Heaven," he said. "We will always miss you."

Firefighters pulled Amari Welburn from her burning home at 20 Benson St. on Oct. 17. Amari died on Oct. 19 at a Boston hospital from injuries she suffered in the blaze.

As the family is struggling to process their grief over Amari's death, they are also angry that Albany County took the four other children from their parents, MarAsia VanNess and Derek Welburn, and placed them in temporary foster care shortly after the fire. They have been unsuccessful in getting back the children and held a news conference a few hours after the funeral to vent their rage.

Not long after the fire, Albany County officials took VanNess' four other children and have not publicly stated the reason. County officials claimed VanNess consented to having her children, ages 1, 2, 4 and 8, immediately placed into foster care. VanNess has said she was deceived into signing the paperwork and that she was led to believe it would allow her children to be returned to her more quickly.

"I just lost one of my children already," she said. "I didn't think I was going to lose the other four for no reason at all."

At Friday's news conference, VanNess said she was using the stove to cook, but had to keep it on for warmth because the heat was not working in the house for days and the basement had water in it. She claimed that the landlord had not fixed it despite her repeated requests. She held up a scarred hand and said she had been burned trying to get her children out of the house.

Family members gathered in front of the television microphones blasted the police and firefighters for the way they handled the fire and said their refusal to listen caused an unnecessary delay in rescuing Amari. Mary-Alice Taylor, Amari's grandmother, struggled to keep her composure as she recounted how officers repeatedly threatened to arrest her as she frantically attempted to push her way into the house.

A police spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The family is supported by the NAACP, said Anne Pope, director of the NAACP's Northeastern region. She said the family is close and supportive of one another and that the children were clinging to their parents for the few hours they were allowed to see them during the funeral. Pope said the children clearly belong with their parents instead of strangers and that the county did not conduct a proper investigation.

"These kinds of things happen far too often where children are pulled out of homes and taken away from those that love them," Pope said.

VanNess also said Friday she lit the burner on the stove to warm the house and then took a nap. She has also previously said — and authorities have confirmed — that the fire broke out after Amari lit an incense stick on the burner and put it near a couch, which caught fire. VanNess pulled all of her other children out of the burning building, but could not find Amari.

By the time a firefighter pulled Amari from the house, she had suffered smoke inhalation and burns on 70 percent of her body.

The case will again come before a family court judge on Friday, who will evaluate whether they can be returned to their home.